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Could Disabling Ads Solve YouTube’s Children’s Privacy Problems?

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By CARU Staff


According to reports, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Google-owned YouTube has violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Several complaints  sparked the investigation alleging that YouTube knowingly collected data on and pushed ads to children younger than 13. Additionally, child activists are concerned that disturbing videos can get past children’s filters and that its algorithm creates communities of people looking for videos that sexualize children.
Many proposals have been thrown out there. Advocacy groups have suggested moving all kids’ content from the main site to a stand-alone children’s platform. However, an anonymous source says the FTC may be considering suggesting that individual channels instead disable advertising.
However, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy wrote in a letter that it wasn’t clear whether disabling the presentation of ads would stop data collection. Furthermore, video creators might push back about this solution because it could likely harm their revenue. One research group estimates that $750 million of YouTube’s annual revenue comes from content directed at children.
One Senator, Virginia’s Mark Warner, said that a settlement focused on disabling ads would be “out of touch with how platforms operate, and would shift the burden to content creators rather than imposing it on YouTube itself.”
Advocates are also calling for YouTube to pay fines which could be hefty. Earlier this year, Musical.ly (aka TikTok) paid $5.7 million in fines for violations of COPPA, in a case referred to the FTC by CARU.
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